Finance - Purchasing Agent

Position Title: Purchasing Agent Department: Finance FLSA Status: Non–Exempt / Hourly Salary: Grade: J Starting: $32.79 Supervision: Director of Finance Last Reviewed: 7/16/26 Why You’ll Love Working Here When you join the City of La Vergne as our Purchasing Agent, you're stepping into a role that directly supports every department in delivering exceptional public service. You'll help ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely while working alongside dedicated professionals who value integrity, collaboration, and service. We offer stability, competitive benefits, and opportunities to grow your career. 100% Paid Insurance for employees and their families, including health, dental, vision, life, disability, and even LASIK coverage. Retirement Security with immediate participation in a 401(a) retirement plan featuring a 4.5% City contribution, plus a 457 retirement plan with matching contributions up to 3.5%. Generous Paid Time Off, including vacation, sick leave, personal leave, 12 paid holidays, and your birthday off. Longevity Pay recognizing your years of service, along with incentive pay for professional certifications such as CMFO. Professional Growth through training opportunities, continuing education, and hands-on experience in municipal procurement, contract administration, and public purchasing. Meaningful Work where your decisions help safeguard public resources, support City operations, and improve services for the La Vergne community. Job Summary Under the direction of the Director of Finance, the Purchasing Agent oversees the procurement of goods and services for the City while ensuring compliance with applicable laws, policies, and ethical purchasing standards. This position partners with departments across the organization to secure high-quality products and services at the best value, manages contracts and procurement records, and serves as a trusted resource for responsible stewardship of public funds. This recruitment is being conducted to fill the Purchasing Agent position in accordance with the City Municipal Code and to ensure uninterrupted procurement operations. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Serves as the City's subject matter expert on procurement by developing, communicating, and training employees on purchasing policies, procedures, and best practices Prepares and codes purchase orders for requisitions Works with the Director of Finance to make sure all purchases are budgeted for and makes decisions that are in the best interest of the City Works with all department heads to organize services and purchase goods and supplies Reviews, approves, or rejects procurement requests to ensure compliance with City purchasing policies, budget requirements, and applicable procurement laws Reviews state contract bids for competitive pricing of items of similar requests Coordinates competitive procurement processes, including formal bids, proposals, quotations, public advertisements, bid openings, evaluations, and award recommendations Updates, maintains, and tracks city contracts in the accounting system Makes purchasing of goods and services recommendations to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Evaluates and processes sole-source, cooperative purchasing, and other alternative procurement methods in accordance with City policy Responsible for public notification of bids Develops and maintains productive vendor relationships while resolving contract performance issues, procurement disputes, and compliance concerns Ensures City purchases maximize available tax exemptions and comply with all applicable purchasing requirements Administers inter-local cooperative purchasing agreements with other agencies Responsible for office machinery maintenance requests as well as contract agreements and lease purchases such as copiers, printers, postage machines, etc. Retains and scans all purchasing-related documents into Laserfiche and/or Ramp Maintains all Gov Deal auction items, including pickups, bills of sale, and keeping…